Lancelot (The Theriot Family 3)

He studied me for a moment. “Maybe I am.”

“On some things, though, you’re probably spot on. I’m not nice. I expect to get my way. I’m sexy as hell, and—”

He sputtered and held up a hand. “Stop. I’m going to choke.”

I huffed. “It’s not that funny.”

As we finished our plates of French toast, Tony worked hard to con more bites out of Julian, but I distracted him with some cherries.

Julian was swirling his last bite through the syrup on his plate, getting it nice and coated when he froze and looked at me. “Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve got a potential donor coming in today, and I need to be at work in”—he glanced at the clock on the wall—“three hours, and I haven’t had any sleep. I don’t have any clothes here. I’m going to be a mess.”

“You’re not going to work. I told you that already.”

“What are you going to do? Tie me up and leave me here?” Julian asked as he finally ate his last bite.

“Only if I’m with you and doing filthy things to your body.”

He sputtered, nearly choking. “I… I don’t think I’d mind that.”

“Hell no, you’d love it.”

“But I would not love losing my job or making things even worse for the library by offending a potential donor.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Can’t you send someone to watch over me?”

I blew out a long breath. “Someone would need to have eyes on you the whole time, so they’d have to be inside.”

“That’s not—”

“Julian—”

“I get it. I’m in danger, but this meeting is important to me. The library feels like the only thing I have left of my dad. I know that’s not true, but he… he loved it and would have done anything to preserve it.”

He looked so distraught I couldn’t stop myself from giving in. “I’ll make some arrangements, but you have to be willing to compromise.”

“You mean it? You’ll…”

“I’ll let you go to work, and you do have clothes here. I had one of my men bring a few things from your apartment, including your new book.”

The look on his face made my heart skip a beat. “You brought me…”

“Yes. I knew you’d want the book safe, now go on upstairs and get back to bed before I change my mind. This will take me a while to arrange. I intend to station someone on the archive, and no way in hell am I leaving you with less than three men. I’ll be there when I can, but I’ve got some other things I have to attend to personally.”

“Lance, I… Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I was glad he didn’t protest further. I’d given all I was willing to give.

The smile he gave me made my heart flutter. I was in so much trouble with this stubborn man.

We showed up at the library early the next morning, well before anyone else. I wouldn’t allow Julian inside until I’d done a thorough inspection. I walked my men through the place, explaining how I wanted them stationed. I’d chosen men I knew well, ones who’d been with our family for quite some time.

When the library’s useless security guard arrived for the day, I stepped outside to greet him. “You’re dismissed.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Wait.” He squinted at me. “You’re that guy with the fucking monkey, aren’t you?”

As if he’d known his presence was requested, Tony came racing out of the library to point a finger at the man and tell him off. It was a good thing Tony didn’t speak English. I didn’t think any of what he was saying should be uttered in public. When his rant wound down, I picked Tony up and placed him on my shoulder.

“I’m glad you remembered me,” I told the guard. “I brought my own security today. You’re not needed.”

“You can’t send me away. You don’t have any authority here.”

“What are you going to do about it? Arrest me?”

“I will detain you and call the police.”

I laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

The man snarled at me, but he didn’t make any moves. He had to know exactly how that would end.

“You’ve done a shit job the two times I’ve visited. Julian and the other librarians deserve better protection, so I’m replacing you with my men. Leave quietly, and you won’t have any further trouble.”

“I’ll lose my fucking job if I leave my post.”

“I won’t tell your boss if you don’t, though, if you don’t do a better job whenever you return to work, it will be time for a longer conversation.”

He snarled. “I do a perfectly good—”

“Don’t even try to defend yourself. You play on your phone. You pay no attention to who enters or leaves. Someone could walk in here and shoot up the whole place, and you wouldn’t do a damn thing about it.”

“That’s not true. Who are you anyway?”

“Someone you don’t want to cross. Go.” I waved my hand as if shooing away a fly. “Get out of here now, and you won’t have any more trouble for me.”